Biap and itaas announced today an agreement that broadens development opportunities for enhanced television (ETV) applications by adding Biap’s Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) Platform and its associated development tools to itaas’ istart developer program.  

This program, based on the currently deployed Biap EBIF Platform, enables the deployment of interactive and enhanced television applications on Cisco’s digital set-top boxes. With additional deployments of Biap’s EBIF Platform across both legacy and next-generation Cisco set-top boxes, application developers will be able to reach the millions of Cisco set-top boxes that are already in subscribers’ homes.

The new agreement enables itaas to provide support, expertise and resources to developers who are creating new EBIF applications. Developers who join the istart Biap EBIF program will gain access to development tools, documentation, software upgrades and support for the Biap EBIF platform. Additionally, companies can engage itaas for assistance in architecture, design, development and testing of new applications.

With the addition of Biap’s EBIF Platform, the istart developer program offers a total of seven programs, including SDKs and support for Time Warner Cable's MDN, ODN and MAS software, Cisco’s Sara/PowerTV and OCAP Axiom, and the TVWorks’ ETV platform.